Tag: Work-Related

I recently had someone who was a couple years into his career ask me a question we all ponder at one point or another during our careers. He wanted to know how he could get to the next level. I most likely gave a roundabout answer that listed a ton of ambiguous tiny actions, but I remember opening with and underscoring this internet-famous quote from Conan.

It’s common sense advice, but sometimes it’s the reminder that we all need. I think about the people I enjoy working with/for most. They are all kind. And they all work their asses off for the better of the team.

So, while I know it’s the weekend and we don’t want to think of work, here are a few articles I came across this week that I thought were worth sharing.

Let me start by reminding everyone that no two career paths are the same. Especially into advertising. And especially into the creative side of advertising. Some go straight through college knowing they want to be in advertising. Some come to it as a second career later in life. This is my (abridged) story.

When I was a child I wanted to be a children’s author and illustrator. And an architect. And a dance teacher. And a reporter. And a dance teacher again.** Then reporter, or rather, “journalist.” And that’s what I was to the path to becoming.

I was in college. Studying communications with an emphasis in journalism. I worked for the school newspaper. I interned at a major dance magazine. I wrote opinion columns that afflicted the comfortable and comforted the afflicted. I proudly amassed a portfolio full of writing clips that surely would have landed me (at the very least) on the obit desk of some newspaper where I would have been happy to start my career.

And then, I enrolled for my final fall semester of what I believed to be my college career. I signed up for a couple advertising electives. I went to class. I loved it. I got an advertising internship. I loved it.

I was graduating college with a relevant degree but without the portfolio needed to get the job I wanted — copywriter at an advertising agency. (that’s like Peggy on MadMen)

So, I worked at a newspaper for a hot second and then up and moved to Boston for grad school to get a master’s in advertising Note: you don’t need a master’s degree to work at an ad agency. At all. But, that’s a different conversation/post for a different time.

Then, I did what anyone would do. I started interviewing. Started working. And here I am. On full-time gig #3 in adland.

This is just one post in a series of what it’s really like to work in advertising today. Keep following along to see what other myths I can uncover for you. All gifs courtesy giphy. I do not own these images.

**You can totally be in advertising and still be a dance teacher, despite what anyone says.

When I tell people I’m a copywriter, they usually give me a strange look. They think I help people get the Ⓒ for products and such. I don’t. When I tell people I work in advertising, I usually get a less strange look. And a few questions about what I do, what clients I work on and whether or not advertising is like it is on TV. So, a column of sorts about what it’s like to work in advertising here and now.

A few of things have led to this idea:

First, the return of, and soon to be end of, AMC’s Mad Men.Second, a column I read about taking nothing for granted when writing (assume your readers know nothing… not that they’re stupid, but that they nothing about where you’re coming from… I KNOW you’re not stupid.)Third, knowing that writing what I know seems to work well for me.
(Fourth, it gives me an opportunity to use some sweet Mad Men gifs.)

Spoiler alert… real life advertising in 2015 is mostly not like Mad Men. Though, there are some similarities.

I know that this isn’t a revolutionary idea — to write about what advertising is now versus what’s depicted on TV. But, I figure I can add my two cents from here in Boston. So, I want to know, do you have any “is it really like that” questions? I’ll do my best to answer them. And I’ll do my best to share what I know to be true about the ad industry today.

I love being busy. I find I get more accomplished. I sleep better. I feel better. All around, for me, busy is better. And recently, I’ve been busy with a few things. Planning and taking our trip to Rome. Getting our home in proper order for the holidays. Prepping for a craft show. And work. Since I typically share details about the other things, I thought I’d share a few about what I do nine to five.

Most recently (as in, last week) my team launched a new site, KennedyandOswald.com. Our client, National Geographic Channel has a docudrama, Killing Kennedy, premiering this coming Sunday (11/10) and the site we built is the companion site. The movie is based off the book of the same name, by Bill O’Reilly. You can visit the site now, but if you visit Sunday night during the movie, you’ll also get to live sync with the show. (Do it!)

I never thought I was very good at history growing up, so I was happy to redeem myself with this project. Have a look!

**This post (as with others on this site) is filled with my own thoughts and opinions and does not necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of Mullen Communications, Inc., or their clients.**

After that recent trip to LA to shoot the commercial, we went to New York City to edit the commercial. We were lucky enough to stay in the meat-packing district, just around the corner from Chelsea Market. And so, the morning we had a late start, I wandered over and found a gluten-free breakfast sandwich from Friedman’s lunch. I took that and an iced coffee and sat on the High Line to enjoy some time outside before the temperature rose to a scorching 90-million, bajillion degrees. Talk about hot town, summer in the city.

Back to our regularly-scheduled programming soon, friends! Burgers, and favorites, and house projects too!

Have you missed me?! Sorry for the random posts, but I have been one busy lady, per usual. Most recently, I’ve been here, there and everywhere for work. LA, New York. All over the place. Here’s some snapshots from last week in Santa Monica and Pasadena.

I got to spend a few extra days in California and visit with some college and grad school friends and I couldn’t be more thrilled about it. We rode bikes, brunched, sipped beers and walked the beach. What better way to spend a few days celebrating America’s independence.

I was out in LA to shoot a commercial and I cannot wait to share it with you guys once it’s all done. We’re getting there—we edited this week and we’ll clean it up and get it ready for primetime next week. They say if work were fun they’d call it that, but you know what? Sometimes, it’s not so bad at all.

As I may have mentioned before, I work at an incredible ad agency here in Boston. And sometimes, we get kinda crazy busy. That leaves me writing 8+ hours a day and not too much time to write here for you, dear readers. Other times, we get kinda crazy in general. And that’s just what we did a few weeks ago in Boston Harbor on The Spirit of Boston.

So, while we work hard Mondays through Fridays (and sometimes through the weekend), we also party hard a few times a year. Namely for our summer party and holiday get-together, but also on random Thursdays, Fridays, snow days and pretty much any other day in between.

It’s not all Mad Men-esque, but I know some of my friends and family think it might be. But, as evidenced from these few photos, it’s clearly more Mad Woman than Mad Men, right? Speaking of photos, a huge shout-out goes to Nick Minieri for these and other great shots. He’s a DJ, designer, blogger, photographer and all around great guy.

And that’s our fair city during a summer sunset. Quite lovely, indeed. Keep up your 9-5 grind and I’ll do the same. Until next time, Boston.

Hey, what happened to Monday? While I’m off to find it, I thought I’d alert you to some other content I’m filling the interwebs with over on my fave micro blogging platform, Tumblr.

At my place of employment I’m the lone girl on the totem pole on my small team of seven. That’s right. One v Six. I can handle them though, without a doubt. But, it probably goes without saying that they sometimes speak their own language. So, we’ve dubbed those moments, The Broments of Truth, which is the title of that fun little blog.

The second little place on the web that I’m sharing is Purrspectives, which is Louise’s blog. I know I’ve told you about her and her blog before, so make sure to go see what she’s up to from time to time to stay up to date.

My last little slice of tumblr is my personal photo blog. There I share my Instagram photos to give my friends and family a small glimpse into my everyday. If you’re on Instagram, follow me there, I’m @copykelly. (Mom, Instagram is this free photo sharing app. You can download it for your phone too. Then post pictures of the cat. I do. xo)

Are you on tumblr? If so, give me a follow at any one of the three above locations. It’s a fun, non-committal way to share some love for all that I love. Can’t wait to hear from you over there and follow you right back.

So, it’s like this. You see some of the same people, day in, day out, and you hardly know anything about them. Then there’s this moment when you realize your common link. That’s what happened a couple weeks ago for my coworker, Emily, and I when we both arrived at the Boston Bloggers June event.

Now, enough about our little moment. Let me tell you about Emily’s blog, The Great Wide Open. I’ll break it down for you. Emily used to be a writer but isn’t anymore and she’s searching for her life’s next passion (I think we can all relate to this.) In order to find it, Emily has opened herself up to a wealth of possibilities and is documenting them every step of the way.

But get this, Emily is also open to suggestions. Some of the past suggestions that she’s getting leads and following through on include fly-fishing and being a pedicab driver. Rumor has it there may be some collaboration with yours truly soon too.

Go over and check out The Great Wide Open and all Emily’s adventures. If I were embarking on such a project, I think I would start with something like sailing or painting. What about you? What would you fearlessly dice head first into? What should Emily try next?

Some teams seriously got their bowl on, with matching jackets and all. While my team was there for the fun of it all, we did manage to get a few strikes in.

If you’re in the Boston area and looking for something different than the usual bar scene, Kings in Back Bay is a great stop. Roll a few frames while enjoying great drinks, food and, hopefully, company. There are plenty of nearby bars to keep the party going when you’re bowled over out.